New River Correctional Institution Overview
New River Correctional Institution is operated by the Florida Department of Corrections and is listed in the FDC directory as a male state prison. It sits near Raiford at an address in the Bradford and Union correctional corridor, placed under FDC Region 2. It holds sentenced state prisoners, people who have been convicted of a felony and sentenced to state time, rather than Bradford County arrestees. Because its address falls within the county, New River is counted among the Bradford County detention facilities, even though its inmates come from across Florida and its records sit in the state system rather than the county jail roster.
Because it is a state prison, New River should not be treated as a county jail. A person arrested in Bradford County does not begin here. They start at the Bradford County Jail and may reach a state prison only after a conviction and transfer into FDC custody. That move also changes the lookup tool from the county roster to the state locator.
The Raiford address is the source of much of the confusion. New River shares the Raiford area with Florida State Prison and sits within the same Bradford and Union correctional corridor. A caller who hears "Raiford" may assume a county matter, when the case is actually in state custody. Keeping the facility type in mind, a sentenced state prison rather than a local jail, points the search at the right system from the start.
New River Correctional Institution Capacity and Custody
The current FDC facility directory page does not publish a capacity figure or a detailed custody narrative for New River in the text reviewed during research. PREA audit materials confirm the facility name, physical address, phone, and mailing address, but a current official capacity was not located. Rather than borrow an unofficial number, this page leaves capacity out and states what is documented: a male state prison holding sentenced FDC prisoners. For a live count, FDC reporting and the inmate locator are the authoritative sources.
The honest position on capacity is that the directory page reviewed did not carry one for New River. Some high-authority references discuss the facility, but a current official bed total was not confirmed, so none is stated here. The reliable facts are the operator, the male sentenced-prisoner role, the Region 2 placement, and the official address and phone, all drawn from FDC materials. Treating those as the baseline avoids putting a guessed number on the page, and FDC remains the place to confirm today's count.
County Jail vs. New River: Why the Search Differs
The Raiford prisons confuse searchers because they sit near the county jail topic yet use a separate system. The county roster covers local, mostly pre-trial custody. New River holds sentenced felons whose records live only in the state locator. A name absent from one tool may simply be in the other.
| Bradford County Jail | New River Correctional Institution | |
|---|---|---|
| Run By | Bradford County Sheriff | Florida Department of Corrections |
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial and short sentences | Sentenced adult male felons |
| Where to Look | SmartWeb county roster | FDC inmate population search |
| Visitation | HomeWAV video | FDC approved-list, scheduled |
How to Look Up a New River Inmate
Use the Florida Department of Corrections inmate population search, the statewide locator for sentenced prisoners. The county jail roster does not cover state prison inmates. The FDC inmate population search form, shown below, lists the fields and disclaimers for a sentenced-inmate lookup.
The form confirms that a sentenced inmate is found by name or DC number, not a county booking number. Follow these steps.
- Open the FDC inmate population search.
- Search by last name, first name, or the six-character DC number.
- Confirm the result lists New River Correctional Institution as the current facility.
- Open the record for the offense, sentence, and status details.
The database covers felony offenders sentenced to state prison or state supervision, and it excludes county-jail detainees and county probation. The population search refreshes weekly, with release dates and location changes updated nightly. A DC number is six characters, either all numeric or one letter plus five numbers, and beginning letters work for a name search.
New River Correctional Institution Address and Contact
The facility's official FDC contact details are below. Use FDC central channels for classification and records questions the locator does not answer.
New River Correctional Institution
8000 NW 80th Place
Raiford, FL 32083
904.368.1500
Florida Dept. of Corrections
The mailing address is P.O. Box 900, Raiford, FL 32083, and the facility fax is 904.368.1437. FDC central classification and records can be reached at 850.488.9859, and the central records email handles written questions about a sentenced inmate's status when the public locator does not have the answer.
Visiting Someone at New River Correctional Institution
State prison visitation runs under FDC rules, not county jail video visits. Visitors generally must be on an approved list, and visits are scheduled under statewide procedures rather than the HomeWAV setup the Bradford County Jail uses. The schedule and approval steps come from the FDC visiting-information page. The table points to the right state resources rather than listing county-style hours.
| Day | Hours | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend visiting | Per FDC schedule | Approved-list, scheduled |
| Approval required | Before any visit | FDC visitor application |
| Rules source | FDC visiting-information page | Statewide DOC rules |
Confirm the current schedule and approval status through the FDC visiting information page before traveling.
Mail, Phone, and Money at New River Correctional Institution
Mail, phone, tablets, and deposits at New River follow FDC institutional rules and state vendors, not the county jail's CommissaryDeposit or HomeWAV services. The table points to the correct state channels.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Mail Address | Inmate name and DC number, New River Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 900, Raiford, FL 32083 |
| Phone / Contact | FDC contact-an-inmate program |
| Money Deposit | FDC send-an-inmate-funds options |
See the FDC send an inmate funds and contact an inmate pages for current rules.
How Inmates Arrive at New River Correctional Institution
New River receives inmates through the FDC system after sentencing, not through street-arrest booking. A court sentences a person to state prison, FDC reception assesses custody level, health-care needs, and programming, and only then is the person placed at a facility such as New River. That is a different path from county jail intake, which follows an arrest.
For a Bradford County case, the county jail roster comes first and the state locator comes later. Once a person is in FDC custody, the Bradford roster no longer tracks them, and the FDC offender search is the correct tool. Transfer timing varies, so this page does not promise an exact window. The practical rule is to check the county roster while a case is new and the state locator once a sentence is in place.
Federal and Other Custody Questions
New River is a state facility and does not cover federal or immigration custody. If a person may be in federal hands rather than state prison, the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to the present, and the ICE detainee locator covers immigration detention. Federal pretrial detainees are often held under the U.S. Marshals Service in the Middle District of Florida and may be housed by contract elsewhere.
None of these federal systems publishes booking photos the way the county jail roster does. Match the lookup to the custody type before assuming a record is missing, because a state prison search will not surface a federal inmate and a federal locator will not show a Florida state prisoner.
About New River Correctional Institution
New River is one of three FDC facilities tied to Bradford County addresses, alongside Florida State Prison and Lawtey Correctional Institution. Their presence is why a small, rural county shows a large state-prison count in incarceration data, since these prisons hold inmates from across Florida rather than only local residents. For statewide oversight, FDC reporting and the Office of Inspector General cover serious incidents at state institutions, and FDC central records handle classification questions the public locator cannot.
For a Bradford County family, the takeaway is to separate the two worlds. A new arrest belongs to the county jail and its roster. A sentenced relative at New River belongs to the state system and its locator. Mixing the two is the single most common reason a search comes up empty near Raiford, so confirm the custody type first, then choose the matching tool and verify the result through FDC before traveling or sending anything.
Note: Confirm an inmate's location and visitation approval through FDC before traveling, since state prisoners can be transferred between institutions.